Door mounting mechanism



M. G. BUNDY DOOR MOUNTING MECHANISM Nov. 11, 1952 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 INVENTOR. Maw/be 6/4/17; 50/24} Filed June 14, 1952 1952 M. s. BUNDY DOOR MOUNTING MECHANISM 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 Filed June 14, 1952 INVENTOR.

11W. Y. CM .H m Z ma m Patented Nov. 11, 1952 DOOR MOUNTING MECHANISM Maurice Glenn Bundy, Kansas City, Kans., as-

signor to Equipment Manufacturing. Co., Inc., Kansas City, Mo., a corporation of Missouri I Application June 14, 1952, Serial No. 293,571

14 Claims. 1

The present invention relates in general to doors for closets, wardrobes and the like; and it deals more particularly with improved arrangements for mounting such doors for operation between open and closed positions.

Solid panel doors for closets and wardrobes are, in the vast majority of installations, simply hung on conventional hinges to swing away from the door opening in order to give access to the interior of the closet. When the closet confronts a narrow hallway, opening of the door necessarily interferes with, and may completely block, traflic through the hallway; even when the closet opens off of a relatively large room, the opening of the door often interferes with desired furniture placement, etc.

Sliding doors sometimes are employed to eliminate such interference, but these have their own limitations and shortcomings. For example, they ordinarily are not at all suitable for the relatively narrow door openings most closets have, and in the case of door openings wide enough to permit the use of sliding doors in pairs, one-half of the opening or the other is closed at all times, it never being possible to have both halves open at once.

The object of the present invention, broadly speaking, is to overcome all of the aforementioned difliculties by swingably mounting a solid door panel so that it automatically recedes into the closet as it is swung open, the door never projecting far enough out of the closet in any position to interfere with trafiic, furniture placement or the like, and, when open, exposing virtually the entire access opening to the closet without blocking any adjoining door spaces or the doors which serve same.

To this end, a feature of the invention resides in the provision of a novel door suspension and guiding system which is easy and relatively economical to install; and which is smooth, simple and foolproof in operation.

In conjunction with the foregoing, a further object is to provide a door-operating mechanism of the character indicated which will permit the door to be mounted as a matter of choice so that it is either flush with, or recessed below, the plane of the adjoining wall when it is closed, neither type of installation involving any special difficulty or problem.

Still another object is to provide a door which requires no handle, pull or similar hardware for shifting it between closed and open positions, whereby the absence of visible means of manipulation ofiers a safeguard against unauthorize opening of the door and pilfering.

Yet a further object is to provide my mechanism with a novel means for yieldably latching the door in both open and closed positions. Other objects and features will appear in the course of the following description of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings which form a part of the specification and are to be read in conjunction therewith, and in which like reference numerals are employed to indicate like parts of the various views:

Fig. l is a front perspective view of a door employing my suspension and operator mechanism, the door being shown in closed position and parts being broken away for purposes of illustration;

Fig. 2 is a rear perspective view showing the door in the same position as in Fig. 1, parts again being broken away and my combined mounting plate and guide being displaced upwardly for purposes of illustration;

Fig. 3 is a plan view, partly in section, showing the position of the parts of my operator mechanism when the door is closed;

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 but showing the door in open position;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view taken along the line 55 of Fig. l; and r Fig. 6 is a somewhat diagrammatic view illustrating an alternative mode of installation of my apparatus as applied to a closet orwardrobe having double doors.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the numeral l0 indicates a closet or wardrobe having the usual door opening [2 through which access may be had to the interior. Associated with the opening is a rectangular door ['4 of such size that its top edge and two lateral edges are closely adjacent the margin of the opening when the door is closed, the bottom edge however being spaced somewhat above the floor for purposes of ventilation.

In the interest of appearance, I prefer to mount the door so that in closed position, its exposed face is flush with the adjoining outer wall I6 as shown. This, however, is a matter of individual taste and architectural design; and as will be self-evident from the ensuing description, the mounting hardware can easily be positioned a little farther to the rear of the closet, if desired, so that the face of the door will be recessed slightly behind the plane of the outer. wall l6 when closed. In the latter event, it usually is desirable to provide a conventional form of doorway casing, trim ormolding around the border of the access opening". V ,1'

Door I4 is carried for-swinging and turning movement by an assembly composed of a vertical spindle or shaft l8 having a pair of horizontal arms 20 and 22 at its upper and lower ends. The lower arm is pivoted to an upstanding trunnion 24 secured to the closet floor by a screwattached mounting plate 26; the upper arm is pivoted to a second trunnion 28 depending from a stationary frame 36, the latter being secured to the closet ceiling or a suitable horizontal stringer 32 positioned in the closet at a level slightly above the top of the door opening 12. The two trunnions are in vertical alignment whereby arms 20 and 22 are adapted to swing in similar horizontal arcs, their free ends being connected by the spindle [8 which, it will be seen, is secured to the arms by set screws such. as 34.

The door is hinged to spindle 18 by means of an upper bearing bracket 36 and a lower bearing bracket 38, so is adapted to turn about the axis of the spindle. As indicated, the two brackets are attached to the rear face of the door by screws 40 and are so located that the spindle is disposed relatively closer to the vertical center line of the door than it is to either edge. The brackets are adjacent the upper and lower extreinities of the door with the horizontal arms 20 and 22 above and below respectively, whereby upon turning of the door counterclockwise about the spindle from the position shown in Figs. 1 to 3, it can pass freely between the arms with ample clearance.

Now, the upper bracket 36 is generally triangular in shape, having one side or arm 36a extending outwardly from the door, normal thereto, and a second side or arm 36b extending diagonally outward and joining the first so that it lies approximately radial to the spindle l8. Near the juncture of these two arms, the bracket has an upstanding stub shaft 42 carrying a freely rotatable roller 44. The roller is so located that a horizontal line drawn through the axes of the roller and spindle I8 makes an angle of approximately 35 with the plane of door l4; as shown in Fig. 5, however, its shaft is received in an elongated slot 360 so that by loosening the nuts 46, it can be shifted slightly in either direction to vary this angle for adjustment purposes.

Roller 44, whose periphery preferably is made of rubber, fiber or the like for quiet action, is received between the depending flanges 36a of an inverted trough-shaped track or guideway formed integrally with the stationary frame 30. As may best be seen in Figs. 3, 4, and 6, the track or guideway is curved very slightly and lies in such a direction that it serves to confine the roller to movement toward and away from the trunnion 28 along av horizontal path which is substantially radial to said trunnion.

On the rear side of the frame 30 is a bracket 3% carrying a latch or detent 48,. the latter being pivoted to the bracket to swing about a pivot bolt 50. The bracket has an integral depending stop lug 360 (Fig. 2) toward which the latch is biased by means of a coiled compression spring 52 encircling a bolt 54, the end of the bolt extending through a hole in the latch into a registering tapped hole in the lug and being secured by a lock nut 56. The tension of the spring can be adjusted by screwing or unscrewing bolt 54, and a bufier washer 58 of rubber, felt or the like is interposed between the latch and stop lug on the shank of the bolt.

A similar latch or detent 60 is carried by the arm 36a to swing about a pivot bolt 62. This is biased by a coiled compression spring 64 encircling a bolt 66 Whose end extends through a hole in the latch and is threaded into a rigid lug 68 on the arm 36a. The spring tension is adjustable by turning bolt 66, and a buffer washer l2 encircles the bolt between the latch and lug 68. This lug is of right-angle shape and has a pad or cushion 14 of shock-absorbing, sound-deadening material secured thereto as shown.

The first-mentioned latch 48 cooperates with a roller 16 on the triangular bracket 36 to hold the door in closed position; it will be noted that this roller is mounted on the outermost extremity of the bracket beyond the guide roller 44, its position being such that it is ofiset only slightly from a projected line drawn through the axes of spindle l8 and roller 44.

The second latch 60 cooperates with a roller '18 as will be described presently, to hold the door in open position. The latter roller is carried by a short arm 26a integral with the arm 20 and approximately normal thereto; for reasons that will be obvious, the roller 18 and the cooperating latch 60 are substantially equidistant from the axis of spindle Hi.

It will be convenient now to consider the operation of my mechanism, reference being had first to Fig. 3. Bearing in mind that trunnion 28 is fixedly positioned and roller 44 is confined for movement toward and away from the trunnion along a path substantially radial thereto, it will be seen that the arms 20 and 362) are in effect a toggle connecting these two elements, the two arms of the toggle being hinged together at A, the axis of the spindle l8. The toggle is normally partially folded as shown in Fig. 3 and, as previously indicated, the door 14 is rigid with arm 36b of the toggle but canted at an angle of approximately 35 relative thereto so that with the toggle thus folded, the door has its exposed outer face in or parallel to the plane of the outer wall 16.

In order to open the door, it is only necessary to push one edge thereof into the closet, applying the force as indicated by the arrow B. This causes the hinge point A of the toggle to move in the direction indicated by arrow C, straight ening the toggle and causing roller 44 to move in its track or guide away from the trunnion 28 until the hinge point passes over center. Latching detent 48 obviously resists the initial leftward movement of roller 16 that takes place as the toggle is advanced toward straightened position but will yield to permit such advance upon application of positive force at the point B; its action, however, serves to guard against such movement taking place accidentally.

As roller 44 moves to the left in its track in the course of straightening of the toggle, it will be clear that it acts as a shifting center about which the arm 36b swings outwardly or rearwardly from its initial position. The turning of the arm about this center causes roller 16 also to travel counterclockwise in a generally arcuate path about roller 44. Accordingly, when the toggle hinge passes over center and begins to fold in the opposite direction (at which time roller 44 reverses its direction and begins to move back along the track toward trunnion 28), the continued turning of arm 36b and roller 76 about the guide roller 44 as a center, causes the roller 16 to pass clear of latch 48 without engaging same. In other words, after the initial deflection of latch 48 to release the door from its closed position, the toggle hinge A will swing smoothly and without further resistance in an are about trunnion 28, passing over center and finally reaching the position illustrated by Fig. 4.

In the course of this movement, door l4 travels with arm 35b, always remaining in fixed position relative thereto and its position at every instant being determined conjointly by the positions of roller 44 and the toggle hinge A. Its path is such that the edge of the door to which the force B is applied initially travels almost directly rearward parallel to the wall Illa of the closet (which is advantageous in that it makes bevelling of the door, for clearance of the door casing, unnecessary) and then swings very slightly away from that wall as the door approaches full open position; the opposite edge of the door initially draws away from the confronting vertical edge of the door opening 12 in the direction indicated by arrow D and, staying close to the plane of wall It, travels to the full open position shown in Fig. 4 without at any time projecting appreciably farther out of the closet than it does in full open position. However, inasmuch as the latter edge is made accessible to the hand almost immediately by the act of pressing inwardly on the door at B, it is convenient at that time to transfer to the trailing edge of the door the manual motive force applied to the door to open it, the trailing edge simply being pushed laterally of the doorway opening to its Fig. 4 position.

Thus, no door pull or similar hardware need be installed on the door for handling it, the swinging and turning movement being effected smoothly and easily by the mere application of manual pressure or thrust on portions of the door panel itself. The absence of visible means of manipulation often is desirable, both from the standpoint of appearance and also in order to prevent intruders or the like from molesting the contents of the closet. However, if these are not factors of importance, it will be obvious that the door can be provided with a suitable handle to assist in the operation thereof.

As the door reaches full open position, roller 78 passes under the spring biased latching detent 6D and then comes into abutment with the stop cushion 14, which prevents the door from passing beyond the Fig. 4 position. If the door has been swung rapidly and vigorously, there will, of course, be a tendency for roller 18 to strike the cushion with considerable impact and bounce back, despite the presence of latch 61]. To prevent this, I provide at the end of the track a bolt 19 which can be tightened to draw the depending flanges 30a together sufficiently to have a slight binding effect upon the roller 44 as the door approaches full open position. The resultant braking action (the magnitude of which can easily be adjusted by tightening or loosening bolt 19) slows down the speed of the door enough to eliminate severe jarring and the bouncing referred to; and latch 60 thereafter will yieldably restrain the roller 18 against retrograde movement, thus holding the door in open position until it is desired to close same.

It will be noted that the door now is close to the right-hand side of the door opening and also relatively close to wall a; therefore, virtually the entire width of the door opening is available for access to the closet, and the useful storage space within the closet is reduced but very little by virtue of the door being positioned therein.

Also, the exposed forward edge of the door projects only a short distance beyond the plane of wall 16, so even if the closet confronts a narrow hallway, the open door will in no way interfere with traffic through the hallway. If, on the other hand, the closet opens ofi of a room or other living quarters, furniture can be placed immediately adjacent either side of the doorway-or, as a matter of fact, even in front of the door opening and spaced only a short distance from the plane of wall I6without such furniture interfering with the movement of the dooror itself being in danger of being banged and marred by the door.

In order to close the door, it is only necessary to apply a laterally directed thrust E on the exposed edge and propel this back to the opposite side of the door opening H2. The initial application of force must naturally overcome the resistance of latch 60, but it will be noted that as the latch moves bodily to the left with the door, arm 20a turns counterclockwise about pivot 28 incident to the straightening of the toggle, which tends to draw roller 18 out from under the latch 60 and makes the release of the latch smooth and quiet.

The guide roller 44 also moves to the left with the forward edge of the door, straightening the toggle and, as a consequence, causing the door to turn with arm 3% as it shifts laterally. As the toggle approaches straightened condition, roller 76 passes clear of latch 48 as before; thereafter, however, when the toggle hinge A passes dead center and roller 44 begins to move back along its track toward trunnion 28, roller 16 swings back in a path which causes it to engage the latch, displace it, and pass thereunder to its Fig. 3 position.

In this position, it will be noted that the inclined face of the latch engages roller 16 and exerts thereon a thrust tending to urge the door beyond full closed position. However, this is prevented by a rubber knob or stop 80 on the door, which engages the inside face of the stationary header 82 spanning the door opening and forming the upper margin thereof. The stop has a threaded shank screwed into a bracket 84 which is mounted on the rear side of the door whereby the stop is adjustable forwardly and rearwardly to accommodate it to headers of different thickness or variations in location; a lock nut 86 is provided to hold it in adjusted position.

If, in the course of time, the door should warp slightly or otherwise become out of line with the phase of wall it when it is closed, this can be corrected simply by readjusting stop 8i] and/or the position of shaft t2 in the longated slot 36a, so that it never is necessary to shave or plane the face of the door. Also it will be noted from Fig. 5 that roller 44 can be adjusted vertically by means of nuts 36 to accommodate it to different spacings between the bracket 36 and the track frame 30.

Fig. 6 illustrates diagrammatically an alternative form of installation as applied to a closet 88 having a wide door opening served by a pair of doors 9d and 92. In such a closet, it will be selfevident that the doors could be mounted using my equipment so that, in opening, they would swing outwardly from one another and recede into the closet along the opposite walls 88a and 88b, as has been described hereinbefore. However, I prefer to mount them to swing in the opposite direction as shown; that is to say, so that, in opening, the adjoining edges of the doors recede directly toward the rear of the closet, bringing each door to a full open position located centrally of the closet, as illustrated in the case of door 9!).

Either door can, of course, be opened without opening the other, or, if desired, both can be opened at the same time to expose the entire interior of the closet. Whichever may be the case, at no time during the movement of one door can it ever engage or interfere with the other, regardless of the position occupied by the latter at the same moment. The act of opening either door automatically makes the door a partition dividing the closet into two sections, so if the respective sections are to be used by different persons, there is no chance for either person to encroach upon the closet space: belonging to the other. All of the other advantages previously pointed out in connection with Figs. 3 and 4 also are present in this arrangement.

Although a two-door closet or wardrobe has been illustrated in Fig. 6, it will be self-evident that in larger installations a larger mumber of doors may be employed. No mullions are required between any of the doors regardless of the number used, adjacent doors being in direct edge-to-edge relation when closed.

As will be clear from Figs. 4 and 6, when a door mounted with my mechanism is opened, its plane is aligned almost directly with the axis of trunnions 24 and 28, the former being below the lower edge of the door and the latter being above the upper edge. This is important in that it causes the lower horizontal arm 22 to be almost entirely concealed below the door, leaving nothing at the floor level of the closet to trip a person walking into the closet; all of the other essential mechanism is of course overhead, so my equipment in no way interferes with or endangers free movement of persons and material to be stored.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that this invention is one well adapted to attain all of the ends and objects hereinbefore set forth, together with other advantages which are obvious and which are inherent to the apparatus.

It will be understood that certain features and subcombinations are of utility and may be employed without reference to other features and subcombinations. This is contemplated by and is within the scope of the appended claims.

Inasmuch as various possible modifications of the invention may be made Without departing from the scope thereof, it is to be understood that all matter herein set forth or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described the invention, I claim:

1. Apparatus for controlling the movement of a door between open and closed positions, comprising a support member pivoted to swing about a fixed vertical axis, said axis being spaced hori-= zontally from the plane of the door when the latter is in closed position, said door carried by said member and pivoted thereto to swing about a second vertical axis, said second axis being spaced laterally from said first axis whereby it travels in an are about said first axis upon swinging of said support member, and means for turning said door relative to said support member and about said second axis upon swinging of the support member about said first axis, said last means comprising a stationary guide containing a guideway disposed substantially radial to said first axis, a roller associated with said guide and movable along said guideway toward and away from said first axis, said roller being spaced from said second axis and mounted on the door in fixed relation thereto, said guideway comprising a pair of spaced apart longitudinal flanges between which said roller is adapted to travel, the spacing between said flanges being less in one region along their length that it is in another, whereby the flanges have a binding effect upon the movement of the roller in said one region but not in said other region.

2. Apparatus as in claim 1, having means for varying the spacing between said flanges in one of said regions thereby to adjust the binding effect exerted on the roller in that region.

3. Apparatus for controlling the movement of a door between open and closed positions, comprising a pair of vertically spaced horizontal arms each having a stationary pivot at one end thereof, said pivots being in vertical alignment whereby said arms are adapted to swing in a horizontal are about the same vertical axis, said axis being spaced horizontally from the plane of the door when the latter is in closed position, a vertical spindle carried by said arms and connecting the free ends thereof, a horizontal link hinged at one end to said spindle and forming with one of said arms a partially folded toggle, guide means coacting with the other end of said link and confining same to movement along a predetermined horizontal path, said spindle being movable in an are about said vertical axis from a predetermined position on one side of said path to a predetermined position on the other side of said path thereby to cause alternate straightening and folding of the toggle, said door carried by spindle and secured in fixed relation to said link to turn with the latter about said spindle as the spindle travels from one of said positions to the other.

4. Apparatus as in claim 3 wherein the plane of said door is canted with respect to the longitudinal axis of said link.

5. Apparatus as in claim 4 wherein the horizontal angle between the longitudinal axis of said link and the plane of said door is approximately 35.

6. Apparatus as in claim 4 having adjustable means securing said door to said link thereby to prevent variation of the horizontal angle between the longitudinal axis of the link and the plane of the door.

7. Apparatus of the character described, comprising a pair of vertically spaced horizontal arms each having a stationary pivot at one end thereof, said pivots being in vertical alignment whereby said arms are adapted to swing in horizontal arcs about the same vertical axis, a vertical spindle carried by said arms and connecting the free ends thereof, a horizontal link hinged at one end to said spindle and forming with one of said arms a partially folded toggle, guide means coac'ting with the other end of said link and confining same to movement along a predetermined horizontal path, said spindle being movable in an are about said vertical axis from a predetermined position on one side of said path to a predetermined position on the other side of said path thereby to cause alternate straightening and folding of the toggle, a door carried by said spindle and secured in fixed relation to said link to turn with the latter about said spindle as the spindle travels from one of said positions to the other, the plane of said door being canted at an angle of approximately 35 relative to the longitudinal axis of said link, the upper and lower ones of said horizontal arms being spaced beyond the upper and lower edges of the door respectively whereby the door can pass between said arms as it turns about said spindle.

8. An apparatus of the character described, a two-part toggle comprising a pair of links hinged together at their adjacent ends, a stationary pivot for the remaining end of one of said links whereby said one link is adapted to turn about a fixed axis, guide means coacting with the remaining end of the second link confining that end to movement toward and away from said axis along a predetermined path, a door, means including said first link pivotally supporting said door to turn about the axis of the toggle hinge, means fixedly securing said door to said second link to turn with the latter about said hinge, and means for releasably latching said toggle in a predetermined folded position, said latching means comprising a pair of coaoting latch elements, one of said elements being fixedly positioned beside said predetermined path and the other being carried by said second link at a fixed distance from the toggle hinge.

9. In apparatus of the character described, a two-part toggle comprising a pair of links hinged together at their adjacent ends, a stationary pivot for the remaining end of one of said links whereby said one link is adapted to turn about a fixed axis, guide means coacting with the remaining end of the second link confining that end to movement toward and away from said axis along a predetermined path, a door, means including said first link pivotally supporting said door to turn about the axis of the toggle hinge, means fixedly securing said door to said second link to turn with the latter about said hinge, a pair of cooperating stops fixedly carried by the respective links of said toggle, said stops being substantially equidistant from the toggle hinge whereby they are adapted to abut one another when the toggle is folded to a predetermined position and thus prevent further folding thereof.

10. Apparatus as in claim 9 wherein the plane of said door is aligned with said fixed axis of said pivot when said toggle is in said predetermined folded position.

11. Apparatus as in claim 10 having a yieldable detent carried by one of said links and cooperating with the stop carried by the other link to releasably latch said toggle in said predetermined folded position.

12. Apparatus of the character described, comprising a support member pivoted to swing about a fixed vertical axis, a door carried by said member and pivoted thereto to swing about a second vertical axis, said second axis being spaced laterally from said first axis whereby it travels in an are about said firs-t axis upon swinging of said support member, means for turning said door relative to said support member and about said second axis upon swinging of the support member about said first axis, said last means comprising an element fixedly secured to the door to travel therewith and a guide for said element restricting same to movement toward and away from said first axis along a predetermined horizontal path, and a, pair of coacting latch elements mounted on said door and said support member respectively to move therewith, said elements being positioned to engage one another when said door is turned to a predetermined position relative to said support member thereby to hold the door in said position, and one of said latch elements being yieldably spring-biased to permit release of said latch elements from one another.

13. An apparatus of the character described, a two-part toggle comprising a pair of links hinged together at their adjacent ends, a stationary pivot for the remaining end of one of said links whereby said one link is adapted to turn about a fixed axis, a member carried by the other link at a point spaced inwardly from the fre end thereof, guide means coacting with said member confining same to movement toward and away from said axis along a predetermined path, the toggle hinge being movable about said axis from a predetermined position on one'side of said path to a predetermined position on the other side whereby the toggle is partially folded in each of said positions, a pair of mutually engageable latch elements for releasably holding said toggle in one of said predetermined positions, one of said elements being fixedly positioned in space and the other carried by said second link at the free end thereof, a door, means including said first link p-ivotedly supporting said door to turn about the axis of the toggle hinge, and means fixedly securing said door to said second link to turn with the latter about said hinge.

14. Apparatus as in claim 13 wherein the plane of said door is canted with respect to the longitudinal axis of said second link.

MAURICE GLENN BUNDY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Numb er 

